We are looking forward to another great example of Philadelphia's ongoing pursuits to create a smart and sustainable city this month at our meetup.

The Philadelphia Water Department and Drexel University are collaborating on a green stormwater infrastructure monitoring project that utilizes wireless sensor networks to collect and communicate environmental data. The talk will include an overview of Philadelphia's forward-thinking Green City, Clean Waters 25-year plan and a description of the sensor network and its resultant data. An open discussion will solicit questions, feedback and ideas on how to extend IoT public/private partnerships and collaborations.

Bios:

Matthew Fritch is an environmental engineer with the Philadelphia Water Department. Working in the Office of Watersheds, he studies and monitors rivers and streams as well as green stormwater infrastructure. His work includes fabrication and deployment of real-time environmental sensors. In 2014, he started greenSTEM and has worked with Philadelphia public school students to build a smart rain barrel, underwater rover, sewer inlet monitor, talking plant and a giant rain garden sensor shaped like a sunflower.

Karly Soldner is a researcher in the Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory at Drexel University. She works with the Philadelphia Water Department to monitor the city’s green stormwater infrastructure by creating real-time environmental sensors that collect data about soil moisture and infiltration rate to optimize public and private GSI sites in the battle against waterway contamination.

Itinerary:

6:00-6:40 - Networking, pizza and beer

6:40-7:15 - Presentation

7:15-7:45 - Q&A

7:45-8:45 - Bresslergroup Happy Hour

Looking forward to seeing everyone once again on our new second Wednesday schedule!